


Virgil's Superpower

by byitisee



Series: Pick a Side [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders-centric, Anxious Anxiety, Anxious Logan, Anxious Patton, Anxious Roman, Deceit is a minor character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, NO Swearing, No Smut, POV Multiple, POV Third Person, POV Virgil, POV mostly Virgil, Panic Attacks, Sort Of, Virgil can take anxiety from the others, Virgil has superpowers, Virgil is a little too selfless, clean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-09 10:53:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14714685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byitisee/pseuds/byitisee
Summary: Alternate Title: Virgil Saves Everyone Except HimselfVirgil helps the others when they get anxious by taking on their anxiety himself. Lots of angst to go around. I basically torture all of them except Deceit who is more like a plot device than a character in this...





	1. Roman

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to give credit to Teen Wolf for the basic idea of taking pain away from people that I changed to Virgil taking anxiety. More notes at the end :)

Virgil was having a good day. While those were becoming more common since being accepted by the others, they were still relatively few and far between. But today was honestly good. 

Thomas hadn’t really needed him for the last two Sanders Sides videos, and he didn’t force his presence since Thomas didn’t do anything stupid. Logan kept things under control. The break was nice. It gave him extra time to finish redecorating his room. Ever since he learned about Patton’s fear of spiders, he wanted to replace all of his spider-themed decorations to make his friend more comfortable.

But now that he was done, he realized the flaw in his thinking. Patton couldn’t visit his room. It didn’t matter whether he kept actual live spiders or made it puppy-themed. The other sides can’t come to his room. It’s not safe.

How could he have overlooked this? It’s the most fundamental feature of his room. They made a whole video about it. He was supposed to look for danger and do something about it, but he just spent days actively preparing for the possibility that he would put his best friend in danger, and the irony of trying to make Patton “more comfortable” in his room hadn’t even occurred to him.

He checked his pulse automatically. He knew he was getting worked up. Did he really want visitors that badly? Was he really that lonely? Why was he getting so anxious over something so pointlessly small?

The answer was simple. He wasn’t. Someone else was getting anxious. He was just sensing it. But who? Thomas, Logan, and Roman just finished filming Crofters the Musical, and he could smell Patton’s cooking from here. Thomas would be editing, Logan was certainly focused on the implications of a certain new brand deal, and Roman-

The second Virgil focused on the Creative side, he felt it. Roman, the sword-wielding dragon-witch-slaying Prince, was scared.

He would usually worry about whether Princey wanted or needed his help or whether he was even sensing any of this at all, but this had been a good day. He knew Roman might not want his help, but he couldn’t know for sure until he tried, and his ability to sense anxiety was getting stronger, not weaker. He knew his sixth sense wasn’t wrong. So, he pushed his own worries aside to focus on Roman. What could possibly be getting him so worked up?

***

Roman was pacing back and forth in his room. Maybe he shouldn’t have just brushed off his insecurities during the video. Certainly he deserved at least as much of the spotlight as Logan. Didn’t he? He couldn’t possibly be boring the fans. If any of them were boring, it was Logic. He was a Prince! Just because people could be mean to the hot, popular persona didn’t mean it was justified. But he was becoming less of a popular persona. Was he too dramatic? Should he try to act more like the other sides? Or is society really just past the days of celebrating dashing princes and acts of bravery? Is he outdated? Worse, is he unwanted? Is he-

Someone was at his door. He froze, heart pounding, hoping they would assume he was planning Thomas’s dreams for the night or, better yet, that he was off battling the dragon-witch again and wouldn’t be back for hours. He waited.

“Hey, uh, Princey? You in there?”

Virgil. What was he doing here? Was something wrong?

“Look, I know you’re in there. I just- I mean… I guess, are you ok?”

Oh. He knew. He knew everything was falling apart. He probably saw stuff on the internet about how much Thomas’s fans hate the Creative side now and feels bad for him, but he doesn’t need the angsty side’s pity. “Not now, Charlie Frown.”

***

Virgil frowned. Princey sounded almost… dejected? There was no fear in his voice, but he could feel waves of it coming from his room. Something was really wrong. He took a deep breath. “I know you don’t really like me all that much, but I can tell you’re anxious, and I thought maybe I could help. It is my area… Can I come in?” Maybe this wasn’t quite fair to Roman, but he knew the other side was trying to prove that he cared about Virgil. This could be enough to get him to accept a little help. The source of Thomas’s ego probably wouldn’t accept anything otherwise.

Roman’s sigh was so dramatic Virgil could hear it through the door. “It’s not just you, Sunshine. I don’t want to see Teach or Dad either. Can I have a moment of solitude?”

“No. I don’t think that’s what you need right now. Open the door, or I’ll break it down.” This was an empty threat—Roman’s door was at least 20 feet tall and way too sturdy for even the Prince to kick down—but Roman either took it seriously or just gave up on winning this particular battle, because the heavy door swung open.

Virgil wasn’t prepared for the state of Roman’s room. It was, as Roman himself might put it, an uncool mess. There were old scripts and video ideas strewn about everywhere, and even some of the furniture was knocked over as if Roman had kicked it in frustration. Virgil was right to come here.

“What do you want, Virgil?

Whoa. No nickname? Roman couldn’t even focus enough to give him a slightly deprecating nickname? Come to think of it, Charlie Frown and Sunshine weren’t even original. The Creative side wasn’t being all that creative. “What’s going on? And don’t say nothing. I know something’s wrong. Spill.”

Roman sighed. “I don’t know, Virgil, it’s hard to explain… I don’t really want to talk about it. Perhaps a different time?”

Virgil thought about how he could get through to him. Wait. Maybe… He concentrated, focusing all of his energy on Roman’s anxiety. “You’re worried about your worth? I’ve never seen you less than 110% confident about your importance in my life, Princey, what’s going on?”

Roman just stared at him. “How did you…?”

“Like I said, anxiety is kind of my area. I’m good at reading it,” Virgil said patiently, still waiting for a proper answer.

“I didn’t know you could… Never mind.” Roman threw his hands up in frustration. “I’ve just been thinking. Thomas’s fans don’t like me as much anymore, and… What if Thomas doesn’t need me?” Roman looked down at his shoes.

“Is this about the whole Logan’s Berry Crofters thing?”

“No!”

Virgil raised an eyebrow.

“Not… Not just that. The fans just seem less… I don’t know, excited? About me, I mean.” Roman fidgeted.

Virgil caught a glimpse of why Roman wouldn’t look at him. Ever-increasing eyeshadow was building up under his eyes. This had gone on long enough. Virgil sighed. “Princey… Roman, look at me.” The Creative side stiffened before taking a deep breath and meeting his eyes. “You’re not thinking clearly right now. You’re too anxious. I can… I can fix that, ok?” Virgil had never told the others about this ability. It was exhausting, and honestly, it scared the crap out of him. But Roman needed him right now, and he wasn’t about to let his friend suffer for his own comfort.

Roman looked up hopefully. “You can? How?”

Virgil took a deep breath. “Just give me your hand.”

Virgil knew that under normal circumstances Princey would poke fun at this obvious display of affection, but he must have been too desperate for relief, because he just held out his hand. He mentally prepared himself. It had been a good day. He could take it. He took Roman’s hand in both of his and began to pull the anxiety from the other side. Squeezing his eyes shut tightly against the incoming fear, he focused on getting every last drop because even the smallest amount of anxiety tended to multiply, and Roman didn’t need that right now. Once he was finished, he immediately dropped Roman’s hand so the other couldn’t feel him shaking. There had been more than he expected.

“How…? How did you do that?!”

“I don’t really know. I just kind of… did? Are you feeling better?” Virgil was careful to keep his voice even and calm.

“I feel fantastic! You cured me!” Roman seemed to be back to his dramatic, obnoxious self, but the gratitude was real. He was just a little loud for Virgil’s new headache.

“Not exactly. I can’t take the thoughts away. Just the anxiety they cause. You should probably take some time to think through all the reasons you deserve to be a facet of Thomas’s personality in case this ever happens again.”

“No need. I can always just ask that you perform that little magic trick of yours, poof, no more anxiety!”

“Well-”

“I simply must tell the others! This is nothing short of a superpower you have discovered.” Roman straightened up his room with a snap of his fingers, and Virgil thought, yet again, how nice it must be to have that superpower. He didn’t have to take on the mess himself, and he could also create things using the power of imagination or whatever. Must be nice. “Perfect timing as well, since Patton seems to have just finished dinner. Let’s not keep them waiting.” And with that, Roman sunk out.

***

Virgil stared at his fork as if it could explain to him why he thought showing Princey, of all people, his special power was a good idea.

“And then, poof! The anxiety was just gone!”

“Virgil, kiddo, that’s amazing!”

“Indeed, that could prove rather useful,” Logan added between mouthfuls of Crofters-covered pancakes. Patton had made breakfast for dinner.

“Just think about how much you can help people!” Patton squealed, and it was a little too loud for the anxious side. “I’m so proud of you, Virgil!”

Virgil squirmed. He should just tell them. They’ll understand. They can’t really be disappointed in him if it’s not his fault, right? They want what’s best for him. But protecting them is his job, and he knew they wouldn’t let him if they knew what it cost. He’ll tell them. He will. Just not right now.


	2. Logan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I just posted chapter 1 literally hours ago, but Logan ended up being much easier to write, so this chapter practically wrote itself. As kind of a mixture of Virgil and Logan myself, writing the two of them was pretty intuitive. Enjoy! Also, don't expect me to always update this quickly...

Logan was nearly finished with his detailed, bullet-pointed plan for the following day. He always makes plans for Thomas after dinner because he finds that he thinks most clearly directly after satisfactory nourishment. He set down his previously perfectly sharpened pencil that was now as blunt and dull as a certain Creative facet. He was about to pick up his back up pencil and resume writing when he heard footsteps outside his door. Who would bother him this time of night? They all knew he would be planning or studying, so what purpose would they have to interrupt him that is of enough importance that they wouldn’t simply wait until tomorrow? He listened for tells. He could tell which side was approaching based on unique characteristics of their behavior. Roman knocks the loudest, often vocally announcing his arrival as well. Patton tends to knock in a musical pattern, and he could always feel the unbearable levels of optimism even through the door. Virgil, on the other hand, hesitates before knocking at all. He seems to rethink his need to bother the other side at all before he’s willing to commit to the simple action. And this, this was definitely Virgil.

Before he even heard the soft knock he knew was coming, Logan called, “Come in, Virgil. What do you require of me?”

***

Virgil hesitated, but opened the door just enough to squeeze through. “How…?”

“I knew it was you and not one of the others based on distinct behavioral cues I have learned over time. I presume this was not the reason you chose to contact me?”

Virgil smirked. “Right, yeah. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“I gathered as much, seeing as you chose to enter my domain. I fail to see, however, why you did not find it practical to instead approach either Patton or Roman with whatever need be addressed—or at least delay your request until morning.”

“Uh, well, it’s kind of about you, and I kinda wanted to come before I changed my mind?”

“I do not understand why you posed that as a question, but perhaps you are simply uncertain of the necessity of your inquiry. If this is the case, I suggest you inform me of your dilemma prior to determining its importance. Will this suffice?”

Virgil took a deep breath. “Yeah, I guess. I’m just wondering why you’re so sure Thomas should go back to school.” There. He said it. No going back now.

***

Logan paused. This, he did not expect. He understood Roman’s unwillingness to pursue academic enlightenment, and even Patton disagreeing with this particular desire of his wouldn’t be completely “out of the blue”, as his vocab cards say, but Virgil… He thought Virgil, if anyone, would see the inherent benefit of furthering one’s education. “I believe you are aware, Virgil, of the reasons behind this particular will of mine, are you not?”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t make all that much sense to me. The more I think about it… Don’t you think Thomas doesn’t really need to go back to school?”

“How do you mean?”

“His career has nothing to do with his education. He studied Science-”

“Chemical Engineering,” Logan corrected.

“Right, that. But what does that have to do with YouTube?”

Logan paused. “I suppose that is not an unfair point. My focus, however, is more on the benefit one receives for oneself without it necessarily impacting one’s career. Broadening the mind is a worthy endeavor of its own merit, is it not?” Surely this would settle the matter.

“But… I don’t know, I just feel like it’s not as high of a priority as things that actually affect his job, you know? Thomas is doing well with YouTube, and he already doesn’t have enough time as it is… I guess going back to school just doesn’t seem very, well… logical.”

Logan froze. His anxious counterpart did have a point. Why did he push the importance of further academic pursuit so far as to interfere with a job that Thomas both supports himself well on and enjoys? Was there really such a blatant flaw to his logic on this matter? Was he capable of yet another foolish oversight of this magnitude?

***

Virgil saw the signs. Even without the suddenly visible eyeshadow under Logan’s eyes, the Logical side had started shaking, and Virgil could almost hear his brain running on overdrive. Maybe he should’ve saved this conversation for morning after all. At least then he would’ve had time to recover from helping Princey just a few hours ago. What was he thinking? “Logan?”

Logan immediately refocused. “Yes, well, I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, Virgil. You have given me much to consider. I trust you can find your way back to your corner of the mindscape?” He seemed to forget for the moment that Virgil could simply sink out and reappear in his own room.

“Um, before that… Are you ok?”

“Of course. I am simply deep in thought, that is all.”

“Falsehood.” Logan raised an eyebrow. “Even if I couldn’t see the eyeshadow, I can feel your anxiety, Logan.”

“Preposterous. What reason would I possibly have to feel anxious?” His retort would’ve been more believable if he didn’t simultaneously try to wipe off the eyeshadow pooling under his eyes—an attempt which, of course, had no impact on this type of eyeshadow whatsoever.

“I would guess because I called something you want illogical, but sure, I’ll do this the hard way.” Logan blinked at him in clear confusion, but Virgil was concentrating. “Yeah, I was pretty close. Think about it this way. Your curiosity is outweighing your logic a bit in this area. You aren’t just Logic anymore than I’m just Anxiety. It doesn’t make you any less capable of doing your job, Logan.”

“Of course it doesn’t. I never said it did.” Unlike when Roman was anxious earlier, Logan stared right back at him. Anxiety made him defiant—like Virgil.

Virgil sighed. He didn’t really have a choice. “Look, I’ll prove it to you.” He grabbed a startled Logan’s hand and began draining his anxiety before the other could protest. 

***

As it drained from him, Logan admitted to himself that he may have gotten a bit worked up, but he hadn’t expected the other to use this particular skill with him. He supposed it probably warranted some amount of gratitude on his part. “Virgil, I- Virgil? Are you ok?” The anxious side was looking rather, well, anxious. His eyeshadow had darkened minutely and Logan could see him start to shake. It wasn’t much, but it was there, and Logan is very perceptive.

***

Crap.

Virgil considered brushing it off, but he had just finished reminding Logan not to hide his feelings—especially anxiety. He couldn’t really ignore his own advice. He shook his head.

“I see. Take a moment to focus on your breathing. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight. Can you do that?”

Logan’s voice was calming. Grounding. He appreciated the support even though it made him feel more vulnerable. Once he stopped shaking, he knew he had to explain. This was Logan. Logan needed data. Once he was sure he wouldn’t be using his “scary voice”, as Patton called it, he said, “I should’ve guessed you’d be the one to figure it out. I swear I meant to tell you. All of you. I just-”

“You feel it is your job to protect, and that any negative impact on you would have caused us to worry, thus impeding your ability to do so?” Sometimes he forgot just how good Logan was at putting the pieces together.

Virgil took an unprompted deep breath. “I told you your logic wasn’t broken.”

“Ah. You appear to be attempting to change the subject. Am I right to infer, therefore, that you do not wish me to share this detail of your skill with the others?”

“I know better. Princey might keep a secret for the sake of honor and Patton to keep my trust, but you decide solely based on the impact the information or lack thereof could have. And this is important information.”

“Indeed. The others must know that this skill is not to be used flippantly or without good reason. It has a cost that must be weighed before it may be implemented. After all, shifting one’s problems onto another is not much of a solution.”

Virgil suddenly grasped his head in his hands and groaned.

“Mmm. A headache as well. Do you reap any additional side effects when executing this technique?”

“Just tired. Maybe a little dizzy. I haven’t really used it all that much, so I guess I don’t really know.”

“Allow me to perhaps help ease some of your discomfort for the time-being. I see no reason the others need learn of any of this tonight. We are both in need of sleep, but first, may I rub your shoulders a bit to ease the tension? I find this works better than the pills you usually resort to when suffering similar symptoms.”

“Uh, yeah. That’d actually be great, Teach.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love feedback and kudos :). I swear it will get angstier. I just have to build some of the exposition a bit first. And who better to assist with exposition than Logan?


	3. Patton

Patton couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “It hurts Virgil to take away our anxiety?”

“Indeed. I believe it hurts him more than it would hurt us to simply process the feelings ourselves. This seems to be due to the fact that it requires immense energy just to take the feelings from us, and then he must deal with those feelings himself. In my room, he had a minor anxiety attack followed by fatigue, headache, and dizziness. I suspect there may have been additional symptoms that he did not divulge.”

“Why wouldn’t he tell me that before offering his services? I never would’ve allowed him to take such a risk! I am quite capable of dealing with my own problems.” Roman had his sword out as he gave this speech, but Patton wasn’t quite sure just what he wanted to fight.

Logan nodded. “That is precisely why he left out the side effects in his explanation to use last night. He did not wish us to try and protect him when he himself is meant to be the protector.”

“But he doesn’t need to hurt himself to protect us!” Patton was pleading now, and he knew it. Of course Virgil would hide this. He never cared quite enough about his own feelings.

“Of course not! I shall not allow him to help me in this manner ever again. In fact, I will not allow myself to feel anxious at all!”

“Now Roman, don’t you try and control your feelings to protect Virgil. That’s just what Virge is trying to do for us,” Patton chastised.

“That does appear to be the dilemma here. Virgil will likely not allow us to refuse his assistance should we encounter such an emotional episode, but he should not be allowed to do so without fairly good reason. Like all things, it will be a balancing act,” Logan concluded.

“Where is my dark, strange son? He deserves a hug after all of this!”

“I suspect he is resting after yesterday’s ordeal. Or, rather, ordeals.” He shared a look with Roman. “I recommend we let him sleep as late as he requires to recover his strength. We can discuss this with him when he is in a healthier state of mind.” This made sense to Patton, and Roman nodded as well.

***

Virgil hadn’t slept. He couldn’t. Everything went wrong so soon after he had finally been able to really help someone with his ability. Apart from all the side effects, it felt good to help people. He understood why Patton did as much as he did.

They were probably talking about him right now. About how to help him. Save him from himself. But that wasn’t the point. He wasn’t the point. This was his job. If he didn’t protect people from things that could hurt them, what was the point of him? The rational side of him knew he was feeding off of Logan’s anxiety right now, but it fit his situation pretty well too. This was his job. His only job. The only other thing he was good at was making people anxious, and he hated that side of himself—the side Deceit had encouraged. He didn’t want to hurt people. It went against every nerve in his body. And not helping people when he was capable of helping them was just as bad. It was letting them be in pain. He might as well go back to being a dark side.

He tried to take a deep breath, but he was too distracted by his own nature as a side. He was anxiety, his nature distracted him pretty frequently. But that wasn’t the only thing right now. Sure he was still dealing with Princey’s and Logan’s anxiety as well, but it was more than that. Someone else in the mindscape was anxious too. Why couldn’t he tell who it was? Something was wrong. Was his ability to sense anxiety being weakened by his current anxious state?

If he couldn’t even sense the others’ anxiety properly, how was he supposed to convince them to let him help them? He tried to think through the spinning thoughts. There must be a reason. Virgil channeled his inner Logan. What could distract his senses from picking up on anxiety? Other than, you know, his utter inability to do his literal job. He shook his head in a vain attempt to rid himself of those thoughts. 

Wait. If there were an overwhelming amount of other emotions as well as anxiety, maybe his radar would have a harder time picking it up. Well who would be the most likely to be drowning in a sea of emotions? Patton. If anyone couldn’t keep track of all the components of their emotional state, it was the Heart.

But what if Patton wasn’t anxious at all? What if he was imagining this whole thing to feel needed? He shook his head again. What would Logan do? Test the theory. If he approached Patton’s room, the anxiety he’s sensing would feel stronger the closer he got—assuming this wasn’t all a figment of his very scared imagination.

He gathered his courage. Now he had to channel Princey and actually do it. He checked his eyeshadow in the mirror. It was pretty bad, but Patton had seen worse. He took a deep breath and sunk out.

***

Patton was sitting on his bed—if you could call curled up in a ball but not quite laying down sitting—and very slightly rocking back and forth. There were also definitely not tears in his eyes. And nothing else around his eyes either. He held one of Thomas’s old teddy bears so tightly it was almost closer to strangling it. But he was fine. He didn’t need to bother anyone else with his problems. He was an adult—he could take care of himself.

It’s not that he didn’t want to see the others… He just didn’t really want them to see him.  
But he wasn’t hiding his feelings. He was learning not to do that.

So when he heard Virgil call to him from outside his door, he definitely did not jump up and hide behind his bed.

***

This was a bad idea. Of all the ideas he’d ever had, this was absolutely, undoubtedly his worst. After the day and night he just had, why on earth did he think he could help a crying, anxious, overwhelmed father figure in a room that would make him more anxious when the other would also definitely not let him do the only thing that would actually help? If Virgil couldn’t use his power, then one of the others would be in a better headspace to help talk Patton through this right now. Especially because Patton’s room won’t send any of the others into a panic attack.

But when it came right down to it, Virgil cared too much. He cared about Patton. Heck, he cared way more about Patton than he did himself. And he just heard the unmistakable sound of muffled crying followed by what may or may not have been a terrified facet hiding behind his bed. So he ignored both the voice of reason and the voice of paranoia in favor of the voice of passion because he cared. Sue him.

***

Patton screamed.

In his defense, he was not expecting Virgil to pull a Roman and physically break down his door. The Anxious side had never so much as tried the knob without being invited inside, so this was unexpected. Patton might also have been just a little nervous already, and loud noises don’t exactly help with that.

***

“Ok, ok, Patton you’re ok. It’s just me.” Why did Virgil think kicking in the door was a good idea? That’s the last time he’d channel Princey for awhile… Think. What did Patton need when he was scared? “Patton? Can I hug you?”

“No!” Patton scrambled back until his back hit the wall, looking terrified of Virgil.

No no no no. What had he done? Why did Patton look so scared of him? He was certain he wasn’t using any of his more intimidating mannerisms. He tried not to feel hurt. He knew Patton loved him, and, more importantly, Patton liked him. It wasn’t just an obligation. They were friends. Something about Patton’s anxiety must just be messing with him right now. “Pat… What can I do? I just want to help…”

***

Patton put his head in his hands. He was hurting his son. He could see that. He was doing this all wrong. But he couldn’t let Virgil use his superpower just because he was a little nervous. He wouldn’t. He didn’t know exactly how the power worked, but he knew Virgil had to touch him. So no matter how much he wanted—needed that hug, he wouldn’t let that happen.

“Ok, no contact… I got that much. Can you talk about what’s going on?”

Virgil was trying so hard. He was being so brave. Patton loved him so much. That’s why he was doing this, he reminded himself. He had to protect Virgil. “I’ve just got a lot of feelings,” Patton whispered.

***

Virgil closed his eyes. It would be harder with all the other emotions going on, but Patton clearly wasn’t opening up to him. He focused what little energy he had on Patton’s anxiety, trying to untangle it from all the other feelings and determine the best way to talk Patton down. Maybe then he could just share that information with Logan and get out of Patton’s room before he completely broke down himself. He braced himself on the wall as he started getting dizzy. Then he found it. Deep inside Patton’s subconscious was the source of all this fear. “You’re… You’re worried about… me?” Virgil quickly sat down to make sure he wouldn’t pass out from the strain he was putting himself through. Patton didn’t need more to worry about right now.

“No, Virgil, it’s not your fault…” Patton started to reach out to the younger side before remembering why he couldn’t touch him.

“No, I mean, I know that. You’re worried I’ll hurt myself trying to help you, and my reaction to you not letting me help made you even more worried about me. But Pat, help me out here. You know I won’t leave you in your room like this, but I can’t stay in here long enough to talk you through it all. If you let me help you, you can help me right back by getting me out of your room.” Maybe he had a shot at getting through to Patton if he used the worry as motivation to accept help. Patton is selfless like that.

***

Patton had completely forgotten how hard it was for Virgil to be in his room. He had to get him out of here! “You’re right, Virgil, we need to get you out of here! Let’s go.” Patton started getting up. He was actually starting to feel a little better anyway.

“No! You need your room to help you process all of the other emotions going on, and your anxiety is getting in the way of that. If you just let me help you-”

“Absolutely not. I will not let you hurt yourself for me! Besides, I’m starting to feel a bit better already.”

***

It was working then. Thank goodness. Virgil was grateful he hadn’t shared his ability to pull another’s anxiety without physical contact. It was sure coming in handy now. Although, like most last resorts, this one had a price. It took longer—which was why Patton could barely tell he was doing anything—and it took almost twice as much energy. Still, it should be working faster than it was… The amount he was pulling in seemed to be more than the amount Patton was losing. What was going on?

“Virgil?”

Right. He hadn’t answered yet. He should probably do that. “I-” He froze. Crap.

***

“Virgil! We need to get you out of here right now!” That had been Virgil’s scary voice. Patton was making Virgil use his scary voice. He was making his son so anxious that he was using his scary voice.

“I’ll be ok, Pat. Just a little longer.”

Wait. Was he using his superpower from across the room? He can do that? But then why wasn’t he feeling better? Roman talked like all the bad feelings went away seconds after Virgil started helping him. Maybe Virgil was too scared. Patton felt tears falling down his face. “I know what you’re doing, Virgil, but I don’t think it’s really working. We need to get you to your room, kiddo.”

***

But it was working. At least, Virgil was receiving a lot of anxiety from Patton. Why wasn’t Patton feeling more of the effects? Oh no. Of course. Patton’s anxiety was coming from his guilt, and Virgil can’t take away guilt. He can’t do anything about guilt. It doesn’t matter how much anxiety he takes because Patton is just making more. All of this had been for nothing, and now he couldn’t breathe.

Patton must’ve either come to the same conclusion or just didn’t care about anything but Virgil at the moment because he just crawled over to the younger side, took his hand, and made them both sink out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the first chapter where the angst really started to build, but, believe it or not, I actually have more up my sleeve... It will all be ok in the end, though. Promise :)
> 
> IMPORTANT: See comments to help me decide when to post chapter 4!


	4. Virgil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After all that about voting to wait a little for ch. 4, I figured out the plot issues for ch. 5 anyway. If you're curious, look at the notes at the end of 5 when I post it. It seemed so complicated until I thought of that last piece to make it all work... Anyway, here's ch. 4, and ch. 5 should be coming tomorrow or Wednesday. Assuming I don't accidentally finish it tonight or get swallowed by a black hole or something. Enjoy!

“How dare you put yourself in danger like that!” Patton and Virgil had just appeared in the younger’s room, and Patton seemed not quite ready to let the whole thing go. “Do you realize how dangerous that was?”

“Of course I do!” Virgil forced himself to take a deep breath. He was still using his scary voice, and yelling in that voice wouldn’t help either of them calm down. “It’s my job to know about the danger, Pat. But most things could be at least a little dangerous. I also have to be able to choose what things are worth the danger.” His head felt like it was going to explode. Or maybe like someone had stabbed it with a blunt pole. Forget the similes, his head really, really hurt.

“Well don’t scare your old man like that!”

“Please be furious with me a bit quieter. You’re about to split my head open.” In hindsight, maybe whispering in the scary voice was as bad as yelling. It was pretty creepy.

Patton’s anger melted some at the raw plea. “I’m sorry, kiddo. I’m just worried about you is all.”

Virgil tensed. Patton was still worried. Patton needed to be in his room. He certainly couldn’t stay here. But there was no way he would leave him alone when he was such a wreck. Unless… “Hey, Pat? Could you, uh… Could I have some quiet for awhile? I didn’t sleep much last night, and I could really use-”

“Say no more. Get some sleep, kiddo, but we’ll still be talking about this later.”

***

“We need to talk about Virgil.” Patton had just appeared in the Commons and interrupted Logan and Roman’s debate about what Roman’s potential flavor of Crofters should be called.

Logan straightened his tie. “Has something occurred?” He hadn’t seen Patton worked up enough to interrupt someone else in, well—actually he had never seen Patton that worked up.

“He needs our help. He’s in his room panicking because he tried to help me in my room and… It’s a long story.”

“Hold on, you don’t want us to actually go to his room, do you? The last time we went there, Hot Topic had to rescue me like some damsel in distress, and if he’s already so upset-”

“But he needs us, Roman! Don’t you want to protect him?”

Logan intervened before this unnecessary debate could waste anymore precious time. “The solution is simple. We bring Virgil here to the Commons, thus eliminating any risk of corruption for ourselves and still being able to assist Virgil through his attack.”

“But that won’t work, kiddo!”

“Why not?” Roman and Logan asked simultaneously, causing Logan to glare at his creative counterpart.

“He needs his room right now! Each of us has our own space for a reason. Virgil reminded me that my room helps me deal with my emotions when they get a little messy, and I think his room helps him with anxiety!”

“Hmm. That does make sense. Just as my room encourages rational thought and Roman’s helps produce ideas, Virgil’s could very well allow him to focus on what he needs to do to rid himself of his troubling emotional state. So what do you propose?”

“We need to go up there and show him some support! After all, he’s only going through all of this because he helped all of us, remember?” Logan and Roman both suddenly seemed very interested in their shoes. “It’s only right that we help him through this in anyway we can!”

***

Patton was just about to sink out of Virgil’s room when Logan and Roman appeared in front of him. “Oh! Hey kiddos, whatcha doin’ here?”

“What do you mean? You just said-” Logan froze. Unless he didn’t. Patton would never interrupt them like that. He knew something was wrong, but he had been too distracted by Virgil’s predicament to give it much thought. This had been well planned.

Virgil seemed to have come to the same conclusion. “All of you, out! Now!”

Even though Logan knew it was for their own safety, hearing Virgil use that tone with that voice was troubling.

“Why? Someone tell me what’s going on!” Ah. They should probably fill Roman in before he started attacking something with his sword, or whatever he did when he was frustrated with his own stupidity.

Virgil and Logan answered simultaneously. “Deceit.”

Virgil continued. “You don’t understand. You have to get out of here. Now!” Very troubling. It was almost as if he had growled the last word.

Roman took the initiative and grabbed Logan’s and Patton’s hands before sinking out. Or, rather, trying to. Nothing happened.

***

Crap. Crap, crap, crap. What was he going to do? How could he possibly get them all out of here now? What if-

“What the heck is going on?” Roman shouted.

“I too would like an explanation. Virgil?”

Crap. They didn’t know. Why would they know? It’s not like Virgil actually told them anything about his past. That seemed really stupid now. How did he not see this coming? “Try the door. Try anything.” He knew it wouldn’t work, but he needed to try. Once he heard Roman huff in further frustration, he sighed. “Deceit locked us in.”

“What do you mean locked us in? Our doors don’t lock from the outside.”

Logan. Logan would be the most upset. It was so illogical, but it had made sense at the time. Everything Deceit said made sense at the time. “Yours don’t. Mine doesn’t really either. It’s not like that.” He took a deep breath. “It’s a special lock that I haven’t used in awhile. Deceit convinced me years ago that if I was too anxious, I couldn’t help Thomas. So I created a lock for my door that wouldn’t let me out until I calmed down. I’d be in here for hours or days depending on how bad the attack was. I thought I was helping Thomas.”

Logan finished for him. “But if all of us are trapped in here, the three of us will be corrupted, and Thomas will certainly have an anxiety attack himself even if we manage to escape prior to complete corruption.”

“But I’m not anxious! At least, not yet. Why can’t I leave?” Roman actually did seem a little anxious, but Virgil answered the question anyway.

“If any of us are too anxious, the door won’t open. Not for anyone. No one gets in. No one gets out.”

Patton paled. “So even if we let you take our anxiety…”

“Exactly. My room will keep making you anxious, and you can’t leave unless I calm down too. But I’ll still have to keep you all from corrupting. I’ll have to.”

“Ideally we would not let it get that far.” Logan was wearing his most serious thinking face. “One way or another, the three of us must keep you as calm as possible.”

“How is he supposed to be calm when we’re all trapped in here? We might never get out!”

“Thanks, Roman. Real helpful.” Virgil was doing everything in his very limited power to not intimidate the others, but his room was doing that for him. Roman would need help soon.

“Virgil, kiddo? I might not have been completely honest with you in my room…”

Patton. Crap. Patton was already anxious before even coming in here, and he had already been in here the longest. His eyeshadow was already the darkest he had ever seen on another side.

Logan sighed, clearly frustrated. “Virgil, I need more time. Are you able to-”

“Yes. Barely, but yes. Pat, please don’t make me do this the hard way this time.” He held out his shaking hand to Patton, and Morality barely hesitated before taking it. They took a synchronous deep breath.

***

Logan took a deep breath to keep his own nerves at bay, if only for a little longer. This was quite the predicament. There must be a solution. There always is. He needed more data. He was about to ask for just that when Roman cut him off.

“Virgil-” He gasped. Well, that was not ideal. He tried to ignore the sudden thought of what Deceit could be doing to Thomas right now. He had to focus.

Virgil, in clear pain, offered his free hand to Roman. “I need you all to try to keep yourselves calm too. I can’t keep doing this forever.” He groaned.

Patton pulled his hand free, and Virgil took a grateful breath of slight relief. “I’m ok for now, kiddo. Focus on yourself and Roman.”

Logan doubted Patton was doing as well as he claimed, but it was a convincing act. Wait. “Virgil, you are always anxious to some degree, am I right?” Virgil nodded just enough for Logic to see. Moving too much probably exasperated his headache. “How does this lock you created determine when you are too anxious to leave? What criteria exactly?”

“It’s all based on the symptoms. Heart rate, speed of breathing, that sort of thing. Why?”

“Thank goodness. There may be a way to cheat the system, so to speak.”

Virgil closed his eyes in clear relief. It seems he had not had much hope for each of them to fully calm down. Perhaps he was right. It did seem like a losing battle.

He forced himself to focus despite the waves of distracting thoughts pounding on the shore of his subconscious. “We don’t need to be calm. We just need to convince the lock that we are. To put it simply, we must channel our inner Deceit.”

***

Virgil dropped Roman’s hand. He couldn’t take anymore. He couldn’t catch his breath. He didn’t know how he could possibly act calm enough to trick the lock. He would never get out of here. He would never get any of them out of here.

“Virgil, breathe. Focus on nothing else. We’ve been over this.” Logan was trying his best, and he had helped Virgil before, but this was just too much. He was about to say so when he realized Logan was counting. “1, 2, 3, 4.” Virgil forced himself to obey, and he saw the others doing the same. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.” This was always the hardest for him, but he had to. He had to. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.”

Virgil didn’t know how long Logan had been counting for them before he felt a hand on his shoulder and felt them all sink out together.

***

As soon as they were in the commons, Logan felt a weight lifted off his chest. They did it. He saw the relief in Patton’s and Roman’s eyes as well, but not Virgil’s. In fact, he couldn’t see Virgil’s eyes at all. The amount of eyeshadow was overwhelming. As much as he had wanted to get out, being out of his room in this state would actually hurt Virgil. His room may have trapped him, but it had also been helping him. “Virgil?”

“Yeah, I just need a minute.”

“Take more than a minute. You deserve a break.”

“You saved us, Virgil,” Roman agreed with Logan’s sentiment.

“I’m sorry, kiddo. I’m sorry you ever felt like you had to create that lock. I’m sorry we weren’t there for you sooner.” Patton pulled Virgil into what appeared to be a bone-crushing hug.

Virgil squirmed violently until Patton let go. “Something’s wrong. I should be calming down more than this. Crisis averted, flight successful, all that.” And yet, his voice and eyeshadow clearly indicated that he was unable to calm down. Virgil looked around the room rapidly as if one of the decorations held the reason for his continued distress. This didn’t make much sense to Logan until Virgil said something that tied it all together. “This isn’t the Commons.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always appreciate feedback, but comments on this chapter can include theories about what's coming. Where are they? What's going on? What's Deceit's master plan?


	5. Virgil Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to split Chapter 5 in 2 parts so I could update this a bit faster. I suddenly got really busy this past week... Hope you enjoy!

“As much as I normally love dramatic twists, I don’t follow this one at all.” Roman looked just about done with this whole chain of events, and Logan didn’t blame him.

“If it’s not the Commons, where are we? I know we are not still in your room. Patton, Roman, and I have all recovered from its effects.”

“And Deceit can’t create, he can only manipulate. So that means this is one of the other rooms in the Mind Palace,” Virgil finished. “But any of your rooms could make me more anxious, so-”

“What’s wrong with my room?” Princey shouted, causing Virgil to groan and curl in on himself. “I’m sorry, it’s just that my room promotes creativity! Why would it make you anxious?”

“You wanna take this one, Teach?” Virgil looked exhausted. Sure, he still looked incredibly anxious, but this is when it really hit Logan just how tired Virgil must be. Had he even slept?

“Roman, your room—like mine, in fact—would help Virgil if he entered completely calm, but would exaggerate any preexisting anxious thoughts. My room would cause him to further overthink his circumstances, and yours would give him more creative ways things can go wrong.”

“Or more creative ways to put myself down,” Virgil added, earning him a glare from Patton. As kind and gentle as Patton often was, one would be wrong not to take him seriously.

“Great. Peeerfect. Then how are we supposed to know whose room we’re in?” Roman waved his hands about as if that would further indicate the hopelessness of the situation.

“Which one of you feels the calmest?” Huh. Virgil had a point. Whichever one of them felt the most, well, at home was likely the owner of the room.

“I have recovered adequately, but do not feel particularly enlightened or focused as I would in my own domain. How about you, Roman?”

“I feel pretty good, but I think I would be able to recognize my room under any disguise.”

“Patton?” Virgil spoke as gently as he could with his scary voice.

“I don’t know, kiddos… Maybe I was just a bit more worked up than you two, but I… I’ve been better,” he admitted. Logan made a mental note to praise Patton for his honesty.

“It’s Patton’s room,” Virgil whispered, in clear pain. “It helps him process his emotions, and that’s the most he’s processed them all day.” With that, he passed out.

***

Thomas was pacing back and forth in his living room. Why was he so anxious? Was something wrong with Virgil?

“Thomas.”

“Ahhh! Oh. Oh, it’s just you, Logan.”

“Indeed. It appears you are also suffering from Patton’s current state.”

“What? What’s wrong with Patton?”

“There’s no time. Patton needs you to externally lock his room.”

“What? Why?”

“He is in no state to leave, but he keeps attempting to do so.”

“Why shouldn’t he leave his room?”

“Each of our rooms is specially equipped to assist us through difficulties we might face. Patton’s helps him deal with troubling emotions.”

“I don’t want to trap him in his room. What if he needs something?”

“His room will provide. It will only be locked for an hour. Thomas, it is essential that we do what is best for Patton right now or we may lose him.”

“Lose him? What do you mean lose him?!” Thomas had started rocking back and forth on the couch, unable to process all of this in his current state of mind.

“Do you wish to help Patton?”

“Of course!”

“Then take my hand. We must do this together.” Once Thomas took the hand, it was suddenly wearing a yellow glove.

***

Before anyone could react to Virgil falling unconscious, the room around them transformed. It was now clearly Patton’s room except for one detail. Where his ever-changing portrait used to be, hung a black digital clock circled in a metal snake with bright yellow numbers that read “1:00:00” before it started counting down.

Patton started to cry. “Virgil? Virgil, kiddo, wake up.” His knees buckled, and he fell at Virgil’s feet, brushing the bangs off of the Anxious side’s face. Even in sleep, he didn’t look peaceful. He was hurting and maybe even having nightmares, and there was nothing Patton could do about it.

“What on earth is going on here?!” Roman tried to sink out to find that snake, but nothing happened. “Not again!”

“If we are unable to leave, this must be an extension of Deceit’s plan,” Logan announced.

Patton whimpered. “He’s burning up. He won’t wake up, he has a fever, and he’s still hurting. What do we do? Logan?”

“I’m going to get us out of here.” Roman didn’t wait for a reply before slamming his shoulder into Patton’s door. “Gah- ok, maybe that wasn’t such a good plan.” Roman hissed in pain.

“I don’t know how he managed it, but we do appear to be locked in. We should-”

Roman cut him off. “I will not be trapped again by that- that glorified worm!” With this, Roman charged Patton’s window—not even with his sword, just punching through the glass—and the window exploded everywhere. Patton even felt glass in his hair. But it didn’t matter. The window simply repaired itself.

“Can we please maintain some semblance of sanity?” Roman conjured a bandage for his bleeding hand. “Ah. I regret it took me so long to consider a solution so simple. Roman, we need a pale of cold water.”

Patton took it from him as soon as he had conjured it, and began sprinkling the water on Virgil’s face.

Just as the anxious trait began to open his eyes, Roman grew impatient. “Give me that,” he muttered, dumping the entire bucket of ice-cold water on Virgil’s face.

***

Virgil gasped, choking on the freezing water, and managed to hit Patton in the face in his uncoordinated attempt to get everyone to give him space. He couldn’t tell if he was shaking more from the fear or the cold, and he couldn’t breathe without coughing up water. Before he could protest that he needed space, Logan was turning him on his side.

“Virgil! Virgil, calm down, you just need to get the water out of your lungs and it will be easier to breathe.” Logic glared at Roman. “Not one of your more well-thought-out plans.” His tone was as cold as the water.

“I… I thought-”

“Towels, Roman. And blankets.” Patton still seemed overwhelmed, but also a little disappointed. If Virgil wasn’t so terrified, he might’ve even felt sorry for the Prince.

The room was spinning, and he could swear there were at least twice as many sides crowding him as there should’ve been. “Get away… Space- Please…”

Logan physically pulled Patton back and gave Roman a warning look. “Virgil, if you can, focus on your physical symptoms for us. How are you feeling?”

Before he could take stock of the whole situation, something became a bit more urgent. “Bucket-” He brought a hand to his mouth just as Logan ripped the bucket from a trembling Roman’s grasp and handed it to the youngest side.

***

Virgil was white as a ghost by the time he was done, and Roman simply vanished the bucket. If Patton couldn’t get ahold of his own emotions enough to help Virgil, he would never forgive himself. “Breathe, kiddo. You can do it.”

“Focus, Virgil. What are your other symptoms?” Patton wasn’t sure if Logan’s teacher voice was helping or making things worse. Virgil didn’t particularly enjoy school, but he did need someone to take control for him right now.

“I… My head-” Patton’s heart broke as Virgil gasped in pain. “Room spinning…” He closed his eyes. Patton thought he was probably trying not to throw up again. “I can’t…”

“What can’t you do, kiddo?” Patton desperately wanted to reach for his hand, but he knew Virgil needed space right now. He didn’t react the same way to physical comfort as the Heart did.

Virgil made a depressing imitation of a chuckle. “Take your pick. Breathe, focus…” He paused, and Patton realized he had become even paler. “Or stop Deceit.”


	6. Virgil Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long to post... Turns out being unemployed allows far more time to write than employment, haha. I also had enough time to think up too many more ideas for just the one chapter, so look forward to more coming soon! (Hopefully)

“What do you mean? What is that snake’s plan?!” Patton didn’t even look up at Roman’s cry. Virgil’s eyes were getting unfocused.

“Kiddo, stay with me, come on. You don’t want Roman to have to wake you up again.”

Roman made a noise of protest, but Virgil did stir a little at the words. He blinked sluggishly. “Nothing good,” he answered Roman.

Patton had hoped his dark strange son had somehow figured out what Deceit’s plan was. He turned to Logan. “Do you know?”

“Unfortunately I do not have anymore information than Virgil has. In fact, I would wager he knows more than I do.”

***

Everyone turned back to Virgil, and he squirmed. This was just what he needed. It’s not like he was already feeling sick and panicky from helping all of them over and over in the span of less than 24 hours. Of course the obvious solution was to stare at him and interrogate him when he was already overwhelmed. He stopped himself. He hadn’t thought like that since… “I think- I might know what he wants.” No one spoke. Virgil felt like he would choke on the tension. He couldn’t tell them. He couldn’t take the looks they would give him. He couldn’t even say it out loud. It was too much. He curled in on himself.

***

Logan was growing impatient, but he knew better than to push Virgil in these situations. Making the anxious side defensive would only strengthen the barrier he was constructing between them. He had to be encouraged that he was safe.

Patton beat him to it. “Virgil, buddy, you can tell us anything. You know we won’t think any differently of you, isn’t that right you two?”

Roman shouted, “Of course!”

Logan simply nodded.

“He wants me back.” Virgil was so quiet that Logan had to read his lips.

“Then the two of you used to work together?”

***

Virgil couldn’t meet Logan’s eyes. Hadn’t that been obvious?

“You colluded with him.”

“What? No! I just… He-”

“He deceived you.” Virgil stared at the logical side. “That is all. You are no more at fault for this than any of us are for not realizing sooner when he first impersonated Patton. The sooner you accept this, the sooner we can get some real information on what may be going on here. You did nothing wrong.”

Virgil thought he saw Patton wipe away some tears, but he focused on Logan. “I hurt Thomas.”

“We have all done so unintentionally. We all overextend ourselves from time to time, and upsetting the balance can have harmful consequences, but these are usually temporary. The important thing is to learn from these errors in order to correct them and not engage in the same behavior again. If you were getting your information from Deceit, you were working with false premises. Even sound logic cannot achieve true solutions under a false premise.”

***

Virgil bowed his head a bit in deference and gratitude for the reality check. Logan knew how to talk to him when he was panicking.

“I still don’t see what his actual plan is,” Roman groaned dramatically. “How would he get you back?”

“He wants me to feel like you guys can’t help me—or Thomas. And…” He glanced at Patton apologetically. “It was working.” Before anyone could comment on that last part, he continued, “not like I actually want to go back to him, but some of his lies… He’s good at making you want to believe him. Sometimes the truth sucks.”

***

Logan was startled out of his thoughts by Virgil’s sudden gasp as he doubled over.

Before the logical side could speak, Patton shouted, “Virgil, buddy, what’s wrong?!”

Logan sighed. That probably wasn’t helping. He waited for the youngest to respond. Looking up after a lengthy silence, he requested, “Virgil?” When he still got no response from the anxious side, he studied his friend. Logan’s power might not have been as flashy—or even as useful—as Virgil’s, but it could possibly aid him right now. He was able to sense vague truths about a person, side, or even object, but he could never get much detail and had made some rather significant interpreting errors in the past. That’s why, despite how often he used his skill, he had never shared it with the others. He had to perfect it first. Not for the first time—nor the last—he wished any of them could use their skills on Deceit. Although many assumed that lying and manipulating was Deceit’s specialty, those were merely tools or character traits. His true power was resisting the others’ powers. That’s why he was able to trick them all fairly easily. Well, all except Morality, of course. Patton was essentially immune to Deceit’s immunity. That’s why he so often needed Patton out of the way. He forced himself to focus on the task at hand.

“What’s going on with him?!” Roman shouted. Logan noticed more tears in Patton’s eyes. He really needed to bring all of this under control.

He glanced at the ominous clock. It had barely been 15 minutes. “Quiet, both of you,” he whispered forcefully. “It appears his headache has graduated to a migraine. Patton, turn off your lights.”

“What should I do?” Roman whispered rather loudly.

Logan glared at him to communicate the importance of near silence. “Try not to make it worse.”

Roman didn’t respond. In fact, Roman looked rather upset.

Virgil suddenly looked up, appearing somehow even more panicked. Logan looked to Roman, who also seemed panicked. Logan met Virgil’s eyes, and he understood. All he could sense from the youngest side was guilt, but he put the rest together. How could he have hurt Thomas unless he was able to cause anxiety as well as take it away? Why would he have waited so long to share his ability if the after effects only hurt himself? This was the only solution that fit all the pieces. Virgil could no longer control his other power. Virgil himself was now as dangerous to the other sides as his room had been moments before. A well-thought-out plan indeed.


	7. Virgil Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is technically the next day, so this isn't two chapters in a day... Again...

Virgil was screwed. He couldn’t help but pull anxiety from the others, and—much worse—he couldn’t help but overflow with all of that anxiety. He was corrupting them, and then taking the anxiety back, and then starting the vicious cycle all over again. He needed to be in his room. He needed to be alone. He really, really needed to hunt a snake.

To try to regain some semblance of control, he decided to read the others’ anxiety, starting with Logan. Deceit… Yeah, Virgil was anxious about him too. Virgil… That was nice, but wouldn’t help right now. Wait. Logan was worried the others would figure out his power? What power? Why was he hiding it?

***

Logan met Virgil’s eyes again, trying to learn anything helpful. He froze. Virgil knew. Somehow, he had figured it out. Oh. Of course. His anxiety. Virgil was reading his anxiety. He forced himself to focus. He was rapidly losing control of this thoughts, and he couldn’t have that. He focused harder on Virgil. He sensed… Resolve. So Virgil probably had a plan. He tried to read any details. Anything at all. Danger. Virgil was resorting to an option that would be dangerous? It must not be dangerous to the others. He would never do that. Oh. He would never hurt the others—not if he had another option. But he would hurt himself all day long if doing so would help those he cared for. He was constantly demonstrating this. It was one of the many ways he overlapped with Morality. But that meant… “Virgil, I don’t think you should-”

***

Somewhere in the back of Virgil’s mind, he pieced together the gist of Logan’s power. He could never have figured all of this out otherwise. Consciously, though, he was focusing. He had to stop corrupting the others. He had to. Nothing else mattered. No one else mattered. He spared a glance at Patton and Roman, both doubled over and hyperventilating. He wondered how Logan was able to stay so focused. Maybe that was another power, but it didn’t matter right now. He gave Logan a look that shut him up. He had to do this. He wouldn’t let anything or anyone stop him.

***

Suddenly, Patton could breathe. He looked at Roman who also straightened, looking puzzled but calm. He looked at Logan who looked anything but calm. He looked at Virgil, and he thought his heart might stop.

Virgil’s lips and finger tips were blue. His face was ashen where it wasn’t covered in black eyeshadow. And although he appeared to be looking Patton right in the eye, it seemed like he wasn’t seeing him. His breathing was so shallow that Patton could barely tell he was breathing at all.

***

“We need to get out of here!” Roman, assuming the need for silence had passed, shouted at Logan.

“No, we need to help Virgil. Look at him, he’s shutting down!” Logan confirmed that volume was no longer an issue.

“If this is all Deceit’s doing, then we need to stop him! That’s how we help Virgil!”

“Deceit isn’t doing anything to Virgil directly. He did this to himself. To protect us. To protect you. And you want to leave him behind for petty vengeance. Because you know how to hurt Deceit, but not how to help Anxiety. But you don’t, because you don’t know how to get out of here. We’re still trapped for over half an hour. No matter how creative you are, you can’t do anything about that.”

***

Patton didn’t know what to do. His power against Deceit didn’t help him if Deceit wasn’t actually here. He couldn’t protect Virgil the way Virgil was protecting him. Heck, it was Patton’s room that was doing all of this to the poor, anxious baby. Worse, helping Patton was part of what got Virgil into this mess in the first place. He blinked back tears and interrupted what he now realized was Roman and Logan arguing over what to do. “Stop! Both of you, stop.” They both froze. Now that he had their attention, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with it. “This isn’t helping Virgil,” he whispered, dropping his dad voice. He only used it on very rare occasions. Only when it was really important.

“Then what do you propose?” Logan looked helpless. “He forced himself to stop corrupting us even though he couldn’t stop pulling our anxiety. He’s shutting down.”

“Can he undo it?” Patton needed a way to help him. To help all of them.

“Even if he can, he won’t. He chose this. He couldn’t hurt us. He’d rather…” Logan couldn’t finish, and Patton wasn’t sure he wanted him to.

“Then we need to show him that losing him would hurt more.”

“But-”

“No!” Patton forced himself to stop using his dad voice. He didn’t want to scare them, but he did need them to listen. “This will work. It has to.” He walked up to Virgil, looking straight into the now completely unfocused eyes. “We’re here for you, kiddo, and we need you to let us help you. We can’t lose you. It would hurt too much.” He paused, pulled Virgil into a hug, and whispered, “I’d rather be corrupted.”

***

Roman vanished his sword. Slowly but deliberately, he approached Virgil—still wrapped in one of Patton’s “Patton”ted hugs. He knelt beside his friends and pulled them both into a hug. He couldn’t always understand Virgil, and he didn’t always agree with Patton, but he loved them. Both of them. He needed them to be ok, and although he preferred to solve problems with force, Patton often seemed to be able to with sheer force of will. He trusted him.

***

Logan hesitated. Feelings were not his area, and the expression of feelings was even more foreign to him. Besides, this was all decidedly illogical. Despite Patton’s insistence that a good hug fixes everything, Logan knew that to be false. Not everything could be that easy. Still. Patton almost never used his dad voice. It conveyed control the way that Virgil’s scary voice conveyed fear. Patton felt very strongly about this. He walked over to what had become a group hug, swallowed his pride, and stretched his arms around his friends. Anything the Heart felt so strongly about was worth a shot.

***

Patton felt Roman and Logan join him, and sheer need to save Virgil surged through him. Suddenly, he started feeling some of Virgil’s anxiety and pain seep into him. Gasps from Roman and Logan made it seem like they were probably feeling the same thing. What was going on? Patton didn’t have time to think about that at the moment, because he was quickly getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of fear. Even splitting it four ways didn’t make it a reasonable amount to process. No wonder Virgil was hurting so much. Just as he was hitting his breaking point and saw similar expressions of fear and exhaustion on his friends’ faces, Patton fought back against the waves of seemingly unending fear. He couldn’t stop pulling it from Virgil, but he forced himself to focus on how much he loved the other sides and how everything would be ok, and he saw the other three relax a bit as well. He smiled and tightened his grip on the youngest side. Virgil was starting to slump against him. The poor thing must be exhausted. 

“Patton? What… What happened?” Virgil mumbled.

Patton smiled at him after pulling away just enough that he could see his friend. “Shhhh. We can talk about it later. You need some sleep, kiddo.”

Virgil was already nodding off before Patton had finished, and the others looked almost as tired as he felt. He shared a look with Roman, and the Creative side conjured some blankets and pillows before unceremoniously flopping onto a few and falling asleep. Logan didn’t even protest about the importance of a normal sleep schedule and how much their muscles would hurt if they slept on the floor. He too simply curled into the pillows and closed his eyes. The lights still off from earlier, Patton had to squint to make out the numbers on the clock that had been counting down. Just as his eyes adjusted, the timer reached 0:00:00. His eyelids drooped. Still, maybe they didn’t need to leave just yet.


	8. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished it! I have some good news for you, so make sure to read the end of chapter notes as well!

Virgil woke up to Roman trying to separate himself from Patton without waking the other up. Patton had ended up hugging him in his sleep. “Where are you going?”

Roman jumped, nearly waking the paternal side. “Oh, Virgil, uh…”

“Don’t go after him.”

Roman sighed. “I can handle a snake. Even a clever, lying one.”

“I know.” Roman paused, clearly confused. “I don’t want you to go after him. I didn’t say I didn’t think you could.”

“Then why…?”

Virgil hesitated. “I’m not saying I agree with his methods or anything…” Roman’s eyes grew wide. “No, I mean-”

“He hurt you.” Roman’s voice was ice cold. This was deeper than normal anger. Someone had hurt those he loved.

Virgil sighed. How could he explain? “He just wants attention. He wants us and especially Thomas to see him as a threat just so we’ll see him at all. Trust me, it’s hard to not feel accepted.” He shared a long look with Roman, and an understanding passed between them that they couldn’t put into words. And they didn’t need to. Virgil simply pulled the prince back onto the pile of pillows, and Roman pulled a startled Virgil into his arms. Eventually, they fell back asleep.

***

When they each went their separate ways the next morning, Virgil stayed behind. He grabbed Patton’s hand before the other could leave. The father figure looked at him patiently, waiting for him to start. He took a deep breath. “Tell me what you know.”

“What do you mean, kiddo?” Virgil rolled his eyes, and Patton smiled. “I’m just kidding. You mean what happened when we all hugged you.”

“And don’t just say the power of friendship or anything either.” Virgil gave him a playful glare.

“Well it sort of was. But you’re right, it was more than that. I think I found a new power.” Virgil’s eyes grew wider. He had expected something like that, but figured Patton had just kept it a secret. Speaking of secrets, he still had to talk to Logan… He shook his head partially to clear it, partially in amazement and waited for Patton to continue. I don’t think I can do it alone, but it seems a little like your trick to take away anxiety. But before you get all worked up, I don’t think I have the nasty side effects. I think that’s because I didn’t take it all myself. I was able to share it equally between all of us.”

After a long pause, Virgil shook his head. “It was more than that, though. Even with all of us sharing the load, it was about to be too much. Something happened just when we were all about to shut down.”

“Yeah, that’s the weird part. It seems like mine can go both ways.” At Virgil’s puzzled expression, he tried again. “You know, like giving emotions or taking them away. I was able to send all of you love and hope.”

Virgil smiled. “That’s pretty cheesy, Pat.”

Patton grinned and actually jumped up and down. How did he have so much energy? “Ooh! I want something cheesy now. Like pasta. Maybe mac & cheese?”

“Does pizza sound good?”

“Pizza sounds perfect! Do you want some?”

“Save me a slice. I need to check a couple things.”

“Ok, kiddo, but you better not keep your old man waiting.” Patton sunk out, and Virgil shook his head in pleasant exasperation before following his lead.

***

“Come in, Virgil.”

“You actually waited until I knocked this time,” Virgil quipped.

Logan sighed. “I was… Distracted.”

Virgil immediately searched for any anxiety, but he didn’t find anymore than what all of them were still processing from the day before. He stood patiently waiting for Logan to elaborate.

He sat there looking at what appeared to be a blank notebook page for a full minute before breaking the silence. “How much do you know?”

“I know you’re hiding it from the others, that you’re worried they might find out, and that it’s a little bit like my ability to read anxiety but more broad.”

Logan looked up from the page to meet Virgil’s eyes. “Impressive observations.”

Virgil smirked. “Attempting to change the subject? That probably means you’re hoping I won’t tell the others.”

“I didn’t say it even remotely like that, but I do appreciate your point. However, unlike you were with me, I am unsure what details you consider before deciding whether or not to keep someone’s secret.”

“Why haven’t you told the others?”

Logan immediately looked away.

Virgil felt a surge of anxiety. After a moment of focus, he whispered, “Oh. That… That’s why I didn’t tell.”

Logan’s gaze shot up to meet Virgil’s but found the anxious side looking down. “Then… Why did you…?”

Virgil looked up. “I had to,” he whispered. “He needed me.” He paused and took a deep breath. “And then your attack was my fault, so it was my responsibility to-”

“Falsehood. I would hardly call my experience an attack.” Virgil raised an eyebrow. “And I had it completely under control,” Logan finished.

Virgil glared. “At this rate, Deceit will be popping his head in to accuse us of not copying his whole lying thing.”

Logan stiffened. “Truth then. He’ll be back.” Virgil nodded, looking resigned, but his eyeshadow darkened. “We need to practice.”

Virgil looked up, grateful that there was a plan. “We’ll be ready,” he assured them both.

***

Virgil appeared in Thomas’s living room, already asking, “Thomas, are you o-”

Thomas cut him off with a rather violent hug. “I’m so glad you’re ok. Roman told me everything.”

“He… Ok, well, what did Deceit do to you?” Virgil prepared himself for the worst. Angry twitter posting, quitting Youtube, dying his hair rainbow-

“Nothing. He tricked me into locking you guys in Patton’s room, and then he just… left.”

Virgil stared at him. “You’re sure? He could’ve-”

“But he didn’t. I think his real plan probably would’ve needed your help.”

“Thomas, I swear, I would never-”

“Virgil. Take a deep breath. I know you would never hurt me or anyone else on purpose. Roman told me you wouldn’t even let him hurt Deceit. From my perspective, you’re single-handedly preventing Deceit’s real plan just by not joining him.”

“I mean… Thanks, but he’ll come up with a new plan.”

“And you’ll stop him. Roman’s right, Virgil. You’re a hero.”

Virgil laughed. “Are you sure that wasn’t Deceit pretending to be Roman?”

“Very. Deceit was so tired from locking Patton’s room that he couldn’t even hold the form of Logan anymore.”

“Yeah, locking two doors and impersonating two sides would have him pretty beat. But you still haven’t told me if you’re ok.”

“I mean, it was rough there for awhile. It didn’t get really bad until around the time where Roman told me you were all in your room.”

“Wait, what? You shouldn’t have been able to feel all the anxiety. We were locked away from you…”

“That’s not how it works, Virgil. The point of your rooms is to help each of you process things related to your trait, not to keep your trait from impacting me. Unless you actually duck out, I can feel all of it. Not in as much detail as each of you do, but it’s there.”

“So all those years I locked myself in my room…?”

“Deceit was lying to you. Those were some of the worst panic attacks I’ve ever had,” Thomas admitted. “But I know what you were trying to do, and I really do appreciate the motive, just… Please don’t ever do that again.”

Virgil steadied himself on the wall. This was a lot of information to take in. “I’ll go destroy that lock right now,” he promised, “but the hard part comes after that. That’s part of why I came. I needed to check on you, but I also needed to warn you. Logan and I have an idea of how we can be more ready for next time Deceit shows up, but it might be pretty hard on you.”

“What do you mean?” There was so much trust in Thomas’s eyes. He really believed, even after everything, that whatever they did was for him. Even if the process would hurt.

“I have to practice my powers so I can better control them when I need to. But to do that…”

“You’ll have to make the others anxious. Or at least let them be anxious for a bit. And that will affect me.”

“Yeah, but… We decided that I also need to practice with you.”

Before Thomas could react, Patton rose up. “Hey kiddos, whatcha doin down here without the rest of us? And Virgil, you promised me you’d share my pizza!”

“I’ll come up in a minute, Pat, I just had to talk to Thomas.”

“Oh… Well, I assumed you didn’t want it since you were gone for so long… It was really good, ok? And I was hungry!”

Virgil laughed at the ridiculous crisis after such a real one so recently. He feigned despair. “But Patton… I really wanted some pizza! I only asked for a slice, how could you eat the whole thing?” He smirked at his own over-the-top Roman style acting.

Thomas cleared his throat, and they both turned serious and looked at him. “You guys, we really need to talk about this…” Patton and Virgil both nodded. “After all, I have like eight pizza places on speed dial.” Virgil suppressed a laugh, and Patton was laughing so hard Virgil thought he might hurt himself. “Seriously though, we do have a lot to talk about. Roman! Logan!” Both rose up immediately, looking around for any danger. They were all still a bit on edge. “Can we talk? I’m ordering pizza.”

Roman immediately vanished his sword. “That sounds super!”

Logan relaxed a fraction, “I could also enjoy-”

“-califragilisticexpialidocious.”

Logan played along, “Yes… so-”

“Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious.”

With a single clap, Logan said, in a very good imitation of Thomas’s annoyed voice, “Stop!”

Everyone looked at Virgil, but he appeared to be deep in thought. When they sighed and looked away, he reappeared behind them. “Did someone say atrocious?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you have probably now guessed, there will be a sequel. At least one. I'll start with the actual process of them practicing. Basically a training montage meets minor angst meets character growth/domestic fluff. If you're interested, make sure to keep an eye out! I'll just call the series "Sanders Sides" for now until I think of something better.

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to update this frequently. I'm pretty excited about it, so that shouldn't be too hard. Let me know what you think! It was harder to write Roman than I expected. So much of his character is in his tone and mannerisms... Hard to capture in text. How did I do?


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